We all have a bogey bird - one that we feel we should have seen better, or more often, or in better circumstances. The Sparrowhawk is one for me. Not having a feeding station at home I have only rarely seen one there. My feeding stations in the countryside seems not to attract them or, if at all, rarely.Today I had a break. In the car I saw one flying low and settling on a post. Before I could get my gear into place two cars came the other way whilst the bird remained. I then approached slowly and enjoyed the male Sparrowhawk for some time. Another car came approaching from the other direction; by this time I was nearly off road and the car approached to ask if I was all right. Yes, it was my day, made by a beautiful bird.

When we think of Deer locally we think about Red and Roe Deer. In the right places they can be found. Neither is easy to get close to for photography but that's the challenge and I welcome that.However, there's another deer to seek out - the Fallow Deer. There's a population close by. As with the Red Deer, October is an important month for rutting. You can often hear them before seeing them. In other areas, notably in England, selective breeding has promoted the pale form of Fallow Deer which is most attractive but in unmananged populations a darker form will predominate. ​It was not possible or advisable to approach during the rut so I waited close to the woodland edge and was rewarded by a sighting of this youngster.

I like to take pictures from hides where you are likely to see natural behaviour. A car is often referred to as a mobile hide and that can work too. However, as a wildlife photographer who wishes to realise a good range of pictures you need to be flexible in your approach.Last night I set out to get pictures of this Roebuck. I've tried before with, at best, limited success. As a prey species Roe Deer have superb senses with sense of smell and sight being particularly acute. On foot I am limited in carrying ability so, for once I left the tripod behind and relied on a bean bag to rest on the wall.You can see it worked; I was able to get a very close but obscured view before the buck moved into shorter grass and showed the whole animal.

We have been following Beavers in our area for a while now. This is our seventh season. In that time they have spread, but equally, they have been killed in some places. They now have legal protection but with caveats. For me, as a wildlife photographer they are exciting and challenging but when you get lucky, very rewarding. Last year, for the first time I enjoyed watching mutual grooming and, on a different evening one suckling. The enjoyment was spread over 33 evening visits.

This year's highlight so far has been this one grooming. To me, he resembled a large fat hairy man with a bar of soap in the shower. I even have a short video clip of his behaviour. Since I am not far away and visible a part of the pleasure is when your subjects allows you to share a moment.

Its been fairly quiet at the hide lately with the usual suspects only. The Red Squirrels are active, chasing one another and gradually their coat is shedding to be replaced by the rich red of the summer months.I was given some dog hair in a bag so it has been sitting in a corner of the hide for some months. Naturally the plastic bag holding it has been damaged by rodents but its otherwise intact. As soon as I put out the hair the tits - Great, Blue and Coal went for it and teased it before collection and removal. This shows clearly that they have not yet laid their eggs but are close. I'm sure they would advantage of the opportunity of good lining even a few days beforehand - they wont waste a good resource.

Its been a long time in planning but I was able to have a hide session for Black Grouse locally. After being refused permission that I did not think I need two years ago we have been building towards using a different site.Getting to the hide meant half and hour driving following by half an hour walking. The birds appeared in the dark almost one hour before sunrise. With that in mind you need to get up at silly o'clock.Once you have light you are treated to one of the greatest spectacles of British wildlife watching and, of course, you cannot forget the unique soundscape. It's a good lek with at least 15 males struttng their stuff. The intensity noticeably increased when females appeared to watch the show,

Perhaps we expect too much of our weather but it still seems that the season is limping on towards "proper" Spring rather than galloping. A few projects are underway at an early stage some of which might produce a result - Kestrel, Black Grouse and Badger.I was parked up by a field scanning for Black Grouse when I noticed three very active Hares running around. They continued carousing around for some minutes and once or twice came in range of the camera. I suspect that Mad March Hares were more likely to be an April phenomenon in Scotland anyway.

Increasingly I like to work close to home tackling the more difficult challenges or rare animal and birds.I set myself the challenge this winter of getting pictures of Water Rail.Perhaps the hardest part was choosing a site - one that was not much visited and where I could work. Eventually I found a spot and baited it. After about a week I needed to see what was appearing. I really wasn't sure but I sat and waited. After about a half an hour of seeing my regular birds the Rail wandered in front of the camera. I did an internal, silent high five. It is visiting regularly now but so is the big bruiser that goes by the name of Pheasant. So my issue now is how to deal with that dilemma. The bold one putting the shy one into the shade so to speak.

Winter is here - lots of snow and unpleasant weather. That said, it is probably worse both to the North and the South of where we live. The roads can be tackled with care so I ventured out to my hide to get photos of the smaller birds that visit, in particular the Long-tailed Tits. A snowy backdrop is generally very photogenic.At one point I saw a movement in the distance and thought it was a Squirrel then No, it must be a Stoat. It soon approached giving me an all too brief once-over before departing. Last August I witnessed a Stoat take a vole in exactly the same spot. This time it left empty handed.A rare moment of thrill for a cold day and it was soon time to return to the car, try to warm up, then head home.

My hide is at a particular location to get pictures of Red Squirrels so I see them all year around. At this time of the year I am looking to see if the ear tufts are present. There's a little bit of variation; I think that the adults have fuller and earlier ear tuft production but its hard to be sure. The ear tuft season is generally November until March.The squirrels are still coming to grab my food offerings then beating a hasty retreat. They seem bent on thwarting my efforts in getting a picture, however this day one relented. I had, what I call, moved the furniture around a bit so it was initially a bit confused. As a result it went to the end of the branch and swished its tail to indicate displeasure. Nevertheless it got the food and I got a pleasing picture. Result all round.

Author

Eric & Lesley McCabePerth, Scotland.Having both worked in the computer industry for a number of years we now have time to devote to our passion, namely wildlife photography. We like all subjects but usually concentrate on birds throughout the year, buttterflies and Dragonflies in the warmer months and moths sporadically.